Middle market banks in the US, those with between $3 billion and $50 billion in assets, are facing a considerable dilemma when they try to implement a CRM business strategy. The technology tools supporting CRM that are readily available in the market seldom meet the needs of these banks. The technology tools that are readily available include MCIF systems, which are often too limiting for middle market banks. Or banks may choose to embark upon custom projects involving data warehouses, campaign management, and best-of-breed analytical tools. Unfortunately, the custom projects are often beyond the resources and means of middle market banks. Middle market banks face the Goldilocks dilemma—are there any solutions on the market that are "just right" for their needs?
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Until recently the business strategy of customer relationship management (CRM) has been limited to the high end of the banking spectrum. Smaller, middle market banks have not been able to pursue the strategy because of the expense involved in creating an information technology (IT) infrastructure that relied on the custom integration of best-of-breed solutions for data warehouses, data mining, campaign management, profitability measurement, etc. Similarly, midmarket financial services institutions (FSIs) found that marketing customer information files (MCIFs) were appropriate for their marketing efforts but lacked the broader functionality to enable CRM.
Middle market banks, those in the $3–50 billion assets range, have begun to pursue CRM with the help of a new type of software—the integrated relationship management suite. Such suites are designed to provide much of the key functionality that larger banks are commanding through highly customized projects, yet the suites allow smaller banks to avoid the time and expense associated with a custom project.
No two middle market banks will approach CRM in the same manner. At the extremes of the asset scale ($3–50 billion) the specific CRM needs of middle market banks differ markedly. However, integrated relationship management suites are able to fulfill the common requirements that these banks share for centralizing customer data, providing analytical capabilities, strategy creation, and decisioning as well as integration across channels.
Banks that fall outside of the middle market will continue to pursue CRM in their traditional manners. Small community banks and credit unions will continue to use MCIFs as part of their strategy and larger organizations will attempt custom integrated projects that allow the banks to maximize their existing infrastructure and investments.
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